# Broncos 30, Cardinals 16: Both Pundits Who Picked Arizona Got It Wrong

*Published 2026-10-26 — MissedTakes*

*Drafted by a language model from MissedTakes' graded data, then reviewed and approved by Ben Garves before publishing.*

Denver beat Arizona 30-16 in Week 7, and the pundits we tracked leaned heavily the right way beforehand: 10 of the 12 voices who called this game took the Broncos, and the two who sided with the Cardinals both got it wrong. Thirteen graded calls settled the game, winner picks and score predictions alike, with the field's average accuracy coming in at 72.

## Which way did the pundits lean on Broncos-Cardinals?

Ten of 12 pundits picked Denver to win in Arizona, and only two sided with the Cardinals, according to the [game's pundit count](/nfl/games/2026-week-7-broncos-at-cardinals). That lean paid off: Denver won by 14. A pick against the Cardinals also beat the site's naive default for this game, which was Arizona as the home team, so every Broncos call banked extra credit for going against the house pick, not just for being right.

![Arizona's backers were outnumbered five to one](/posts/visuals/8ead8e75-5bec-4016-a2a2-b05af74b11a8.png)

## Whose score call landed closest to the final margin?

[Chris Simms](/pundits/chris-simms) and [Richard Sherman](/pundits/richard-sherman) tied for the best score call, each picking Denver by a touchdown and missing the actual 14-point margin by seven. Simms called it "Broncos covering 24 to 17" on October 23; Sherman, two days earlier, said: "Give me Denver in this one by a touchdown. We'll call it 19-12." Both graded at 83.33 accuracy, the top mark among the five pundits who put up full scores.

| Pundit | Score called | Accuracy |
| --- | --- | ---: |
| Chris Simms | Broncos 24-17 | 83.3 |
| Richard Sherman | Broncos 19-12 | 83.3 |
| John Breech | Broncos 19-16 | 73.8 |
| Pete Prisco | Broncos 24-21 | 73.8 |
| Tyler Sullivan | Cardinals 23-20 | 23.8 |

![The two closest score calls still landed seven points short of the final margin](/posts/visuals/1aa924df-a9e5-4d51-8483-e90b5b3fe067.png)

Behind them, [John Breech](/pundits/john-breech) (Broncos 19-16) and [Pete Prisco](/pundits/pete-prisco) (Broncos 24-21) each called a three-point Denver win, missing the margin by 11 but still grading above 70 accuracy for getting the winner and staying in the same neighborhood on points.

Two pundits also had this game won well before kickoff. [Sayre Bedinger](/pundits/sayre-bedinger) and [Cody Rourke](/pundits/cody-rourke) told each other back on July 24 that they both had "the Broncos winning on the road against the Arizona Cardinals," months ahead of the game script. Both calls graded at 100 accuracy with the maximum 200 skill score, the extra credit the site gives for a call that stood for the entire stretch between the prediction and kickoff.

## Which calls missed, and by how much?

Both pundits who backed Arizona lost the call. [Garrett Podell](/pundits/garrett-podell) wrote that the Cardinals would win this one "without scoring a touchdown," which graded at zero accuracy once Denver won by two scores. [Tyler Sullivan](/pundits/tyler-sullivan) backed Arizona twice, picking the Cardinals outright in his winner column (zero accuracy) and then projecting a 23-20 Cardinals win in his score column, which graded at 23.81 accuracy, the lowest score call of the week on this game.

## Did this result extend or break any streaks?

Tyler Sullivan's two misses dropped a mixed week onto an otherwise middling record: he's graded 61.47 accuracy across 161 calls overall, including 68.95 on game-outcome picks specifically, so missing a winner pick outright isn't new for him, but doing it alongside a last-place score call is a rough combination. Richard Sherman's tie atop the score predictions fits his typical form, not a surprise: he's graded 75.81 accuracy on 38 score predictions overall, well above his 60.67 career average, so this call was right in his wheelhouse. Garrett Podell's miss came on a thin provisional record, just 10 graded calls total, with his outcome picks specifically sitting at 30 accuracy across six graded calls, so Sunday's result fits an established pattern for him rather than a one-off.

## What does this result change going forward?

Denver is now 5-2, exactly the pace [Cody Roark](/pundits/cody-roark) reaffirmed before kickoff, while Arizona falls to 2-5. That keeps alive the preseason calls that had Denver finishing with double-digit wins, including Breech's projected 10-7 season and Sayre Bedinger's "12 wins minimum," and it keeps Arizona on course for the rough outcomes several pundits forecast in September, with John Breech and Nick Wright both projecting a 3-14 finish and Moe Moton going as low as 2-15. For the full season picture on both clubs, see the [Broncos](/nfl/teams/broncos) and [Cardinals](/nfl/teams/cardinals) team pages, and see how this week's pundits stack up overall on the [leaderboard](/nfl/leaderboard).